Use of Clean Coal Technologies Will Help Utilities Take the Lead in Hydrogen Economy Race, Says Thinking Energy

Sep 16 - Business Wire

Soaring prices and tight supplies of natural gas will force electric utilities in the United States to radically reconsider their fuel choices, says a new study. "There's only one choice--almost a 'no brainer'--and that is coal," concludes Thinking Energy, the energy consulting unit of The Thinking Companies, Inc. Further, by installing the latest clean coal technologies, like integrated gasification combined cycle, utilities will be uniquely positioned to take the lead in hydrogen production, thereby helping to make the hydrogen economy a reality.

"Utilities invested heavily in natural gas firing in the past decade, and it's turning out to be a dreadful mistake. While burning natural gas has some environmental advantages in terms of lowered SOx emissions, the gas industry has greatly oversold its product," comments Peter R. Savage, author of the study. With natural gas production flat or falling, demand booming, and poor prospects that future discoveries will match requirements, utilities face their own energy crisis. Coal still accounts for over 60% of the fuel used to raise power, and it's overdue to make a huge comeback.

"Coal is regarded as dirty, but there's no need for it to be," argues Shirley Strzelecki Savage, co-author of the study, Return To Coal: Why Utilities Must Reconsider This Cheap, Plentiful Fuel. "Modern coal-fired plans can be engineered to produce acceptably low SOx and NOx levels, and to have much greater thermal efficiency. Developments like fluidized bed combustion and integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plants have made great technological strides, have attracted billions of dollars in R&D expense over recent years, and are quite economically attractive compared to gas-fired plants at today's gas price levels. Coal, on the other hand, has never been cheaper."

Among the improvements seen by Thinking Energy are better mercury trapping techniques, high-temperature offgas treatment, and higher operating temperatures for boilers, all of which give coal a boost. Concerns about global warming are common to all fossil fuels. "In fact, IGCCs produce more concentrated CO2, the critical 'greenhouse gas,' and are more suited to future carbon sequestration efforts," Peter Savage says.

Utilities are well-placed to take the lead in building an energy future based on hydrogen, the report says. "There's no reason why oil (or gas) companies have to be ceded this role. Utilities have the access to coal, and they have the ability to burn it cleanly to make electricity. If IGCCs are eventually built in quantity, the syngas can be used to raise electricity, or part can be diverted to upgrading by steam reforming to make clean hydrogen fuel, almost on a 'swing' basis, dependent on the amount of purification capacity installed. If that happens, the electric industry will have the muscle to be the low-cost hydrogen supplier, whether or not oil majors or refiners see the light. It's an unrivalled ground-floor window of opportunity."

The study is dismissive of other alternatives in the short term. "Nuclear choices aren't going to be made. The gas industry is staking its shirt on future exploration and 'tight sands,' unproven ideas like methane hydrates, or LNG imports. And alternatives like wind and solar power are not ready for commercialization," the Savages argue.

For the US in particular, coal offers great advantages of economic security: "Even if sufficient LNG import capacity is built, dare the electrical industry and consumers risk making themselves hostage to imports, most of them coming from OPEC countries? The US is self-sufficient in coal for the next century, long enough for 'alternatives' to be properly developed," the authors say. Similar arguments apply in the case of China and several other industrial markets that have developed an unhealthy dependence on natural gas.

The $250, 238-page techno-economic study, which includes a detailed appraisal of current and future clean coal technologies and their economics, will be available on September 23, 2004. It's undoubtedly the most up-to-the-minute, readable, and comprehensive study of clean coal issues available. Pre-orders can be placed at www.thinkingenergy.com/coal.htm , by e-mail at coalreport@thinkingenergy.com  or by calling 207-829-3223.

For further details, contact: Shirley S. Savage, President, The Thinking Companies, Inc. at 207-829-2020.